Monica+PerezLBF

Executive Summary
In order to gather sufficient data for this survey, I recruited a variety of participants to collect from. I wanted to keep the range of differences between them pretty spread out. Therefore, I asked: I seemed to overlap with the two female teachers, but I felt their differences in curriculum would effect their responses. Personally, I found taking the survey easy and very telling. If forced me to use it as a learning experience as well. I was engaged in this learning experience about how I interpret making learning fun because I was asked to think critically for the open ended questions. Looking back at the data, I can see myself in other responses. I relate to the responses that say learning is boring when it is too large of a setting and when there is no hands on activity. Fun learning for me and for many others that I could identify with in the data is an experience where I am up, and doing something. Proactive learning is fun for me and as far as I could tell, it is for a lot of other learners too.
 * Male - Age 40 - Occupation=engineer
 * Male - Age 36 - Occupation=art gallery owner
 * Male - Age 33 - Occupation=helicopter pilot
 * Female - Age 26 - Occupation=special education teacher
 * female - Age 37 - Occupation=human resources manager
 * female - Age 25 - Occupation=fourth grade bilingual teacher

What Makes Learning Boring?
There seem to be several consistent patterns when it comes to boring learning. The one obvious factor that contributed to boring learning had to do with setting. When learning in a large setting with a lot of participants, the survey shows that several learners commented on how large, auditorium settings attributed to lack of interest in the learning experience. Sitting and listening were not desirable learning experiences for learners, one learner said, " Lecture style to approx 200 people..a bunch of college kids being bored to tears, lots of distraction by them and the instructor was monotone and just lectured." Being expected to sit and listen fares harder than it seems. This is not an engaging activity, therefore many people surveyed commented in the same manner. Another contributing factor to a boring learning experience would have to be the instructor. As an instructor I know how hard it is to keep your audience engaged and how fast you can loose them. I know in the past I have had to be animated and create a persona that uses a voice that is not my normal tone. It seems that the data blames boredom a lot on the instructor. The manner in which the instructor spoke and conducted the classes were criticized and many commented on the, "monotone," voiced that were used. One response read, "Monotone voice and a lack of enthusiasm from the instructor." We all know, if you are not buying into what you are trying to sell to others it is hard to sell it to your audience. "Her voice. Even when she was excited about something it never changed. Trying to take notes was difficult because it was hard to stay awake," was another comment made about the instructor and the voiced used. This is especially important in a huge setting. Finally, the final trend I noticed when looking at the data was student participation and engagement in discussions or activities. When instructors were reluctant to lead a discussion or activity responses like this were made, "The teacher was definitely bored of the subject, no passion in his presentation, and droned on with a constant monotone voice. No attempt was made to answer any of the students questions as he would simply answer, "Examples are on page so-and-so."

What Makes Learning Fun?
Some generalizations that can me made about what makes learning fun are engagement, experience and freedom to explore the content through discussion and activities. When learners are invited to be part of the discovery in learning, the level of enthusiasm rises and so does the appreciation for what is being taught. The experience becomes more meaningful. "It had a lot of hands on things to do and we were always challenged to find out why something was the way it was and what would happen if!" This is a great comment because you can tell the learner appreciated the experience and enjoyed that they were part of the process. Going back to the instructors presence in front of a class, this comment tells it all, "Knowledgeable, passionate, and fun instructor. I'm a visual and hands-on learner as well as a problem-solver. This class totally rocked!" When the instructor is having fun the outcome is successful. So, a fun instructor, and engaging environment lend to a better learning experience.

Implications
This exercise will affect my future lessons in two key ways. The first implication that I will keep in mind not only during the development of my lesson, but also in the delivery will be my enthusiasm as the instructor. I will try to remember comments made about tone and delivery. I will also try to keep the sitting and listening to a minimum, especially for my third graders. As adults, we take those bad, boring learning experiences with us and Id hate for my kids to reflect one day on my instruction and comment that I was boring and that it was hard for them to stay awake. I'd like them to look back and say that my class rocked! The second implication will be the use of engaging and hands on activities. It's hard to always incorporate these type of strategies but when you do the outcome is better. Even as adults we appreciate the participation and engagement, this is going to be vital in my future instruction. Sometimes as instructors we might shy away from movement in the room and a controlled chaos, but it should happen. It makes the lesson and learning more meaningful. As children and adults hands on activities invite us to be owners of our learning experiences.